Might and Magic
by TwinCarcino
Summary: Not everyone wants to be a hero, and some are unlucky enough to be cast for the role. (Alternatively known as the adventures of a Thief and Mage in a land of dragons, war and giant spiders)
1. It Begins

**Authors Note:** Hello everyone. First of all, this is not the original version, I've decided to scrap the original _Might and Magic_ fic and rewrite it, so if it seems familiar. That is why.

Second is, this is a story I will be writing at a not so consistent pace. My main focus is writing and finishing _A Different Path_ , and while I will work on this now and then, the chapters wont be at a regular pace.

Finally, a third thing to note is that I've changed a lot of things since the original version, including their names.

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With the sound of yelling, horses and creaky wheels going down the bumpy uneven road, it would have been hard for anyone to stay asleep or attempt at sleep at all within the wagon. Not that many would dare close their eyes for consensual slumber not brought on by a hard blow to the head.

Fear was everywhere among these men and women, some tried to conceal it and others squirmed in their seats with tears pricking at their eyes. There was not a man or woman bound that was not afraid of what was to come.

Towards the front of the wagon, a muscular man donning armor belonging to the Stormcloaks began talking. His voice low and hushed to not earn a bark of anger from the soldiers who captured them. Though he must have been afraid as well, he was among the ones who did well at concealing it, his voice was even and every detail said he would not show fear to the ones who were taking them to who knows where.

"You two were trying to cross the border, huh?" He, Ralof, asked as his eyes went from the dark haired man beside him to the woman across from him, "Walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us, and that horse thief over there," he added gesturing to the trembling man down towards the back of the wagon.

The reactions gained from the two he addressed were different in nature.

The woman, or rather girl once a better inspection took place, brought in a sharp breath to try and stifle her own fear as she looked away at the passing trees, trying oh so desperately to keep her mind off of what was going to happen to her. Her hands trembled and nails dug harshly into her skin. She had done nothing wrong, was not part of this war or even a part of Skyrim. She had only crossed the border at the wrong time, but that alone was no crime.

The other only threw in a wolfish grin and shrugged his shoulders. Like the first he opted out of speaking. Out of everyone in this group, he was the only one who appeared to be enjoying himself, having commented earlier on that it beat having to _walk_ the distance they had ridden. Of course soldiers threatened to make him walk shortly after if he continued talking which effectively shut him up.

How much of that grin was genuine was anyone's guess, but it would be safe to assume that he was just as afraid as everyone else.

Lokir struggled more in his binds, body shaking and trembling in his uncontrolled terror, and had tried multiple times to climb out of the wagon only to be roughly shoved back in by the Imperials. "This is all your fault! If you and your stupid war- I could have had that horse and been half way to Hammerfell! We're not like you, we're innocent!" By we, he gestured best he could to the only other non-soldiers in the wagon.

"We're all brothers and sisters in binds now, thief," was the quick remark.

The glare Lokir gave Ralof was pitiful, and he quickly turned his attention to the gagged man in front of him, "What's his deal anyways? He try to bite a soldier?"

This time his response was a harsh yell instead of a curt statement, "Watch your tongue!" Ralof snapped, "You're talking to the _true_ High King of Skyrim; Ulfric Stormcloak!"

Blood seemed to drain from Lokirs face, and though the other two did not understand much of Skyrims politics they knew enough to be able to look on in horror at the rebel leader and piece together what that meant for their own fates. If they were going in with Ulfric, than it was safe to assume there wasn't going to be a simple fair trial to talk and explain themselves.

The horse thiefs trembling grew more intense after that, "Ulfric? Oh Gods, but if they captured you… _where_ are they taking us?" he cried out, looking to Ralof for answers.

"I don't know, but Sovngarde awaits," Ralof said softly as he looked ahead to the path they were going down.

"Sovngarde? Hah, good one!"

Eyes fell on the one between Ralof and Lokir, and the man only gave them all a mocking grin in return.

"You still believe in those children stories?" He asked them, his grin not once wavering, "There are no Gods watching over us, no warrior afterlife. Once we die there's nothing left."

That certainly didn't do much to leave a hopeful feeling in one's heart, and there were a few glares thrown at him.

"Sovngarde is no fairytale," Ralof answered, giving the slightly taller man a harsh look, but his words were shrugged off.

That had helped to raise the tension in the group, and as they passed through the entrance to Helgen that tension grew to more fear. The thief began openly crying out for someone to save him, that he was not a rebel. Children were pulled into homes, advised against going to see what was happening. The girl had even spotted a headsman making his way through the town in the direction that they were heading.

They all knew what was to come; a public execution.

"Damn Imperial bastards," Ralof muttered vehemently as they passed by General Tullius and a group of Thalmor. "Of course those Thalmor scum are here to watch too."

The cart began to slow down, and as though to try to ease the tension another grin came upon a previously grim face, "Well, I hope they don't mess up my face to badly when they, you know, decapitate me. It's kind of my only good quality," he joked.

Though he had tried his best, it didn't do anything to help lighten the mood and ease the worry so he fell silent once again. The young woman had to give him props for trying however, they were all scared and it was kind to try and ease it for others. That fear only seemed to grow in her own heart as the cart stopped and they were ordered to get out.

She tried her own best to hide it as well as she could like the Stormcloak soldiers around her did, but she knew that she did a poor job of it. She couldn't hide her fear behind a mask of confidence or humor like the men, but thankfully she wasn't the only one who couldn't as Lokir also had all his terror open for the world to see, crying out for the Imperials to believe that he wasn't a Stormcloak or an ally of Ulfrics.

He was ignored and an Imperial captain stepped up to their group with another lower ranked soldier who held out a list.

"Imperials love their damn lists," Ralof muttered under his breath as names were called out and prisoners ushered away.

Another grin came up to the man beside her as another tempt to bring humor arrived, "Hey now, of course we love lists," he commented, feigning a hurt look, "Our memories are just terrible, we wouldn't be able to remember our own names without them!"

Though it didn't bring the laugh that he might have hoped, it did bring incredulous looks from the two at naming himself an Imperial. At first glance he had the appearance of a Nord, but as more attention was spent there were rather obvious appearance traits belonging to an Imperial.

He was tall, and his build was without a doubt that of a Nord, but compared to Ralof and Ulfric he was leaner, muscles more subtle. His skin was also fair, if not a bit tannish. But his face was sharp, and every detail said Imperial, that and his darker hair and eyes. Both Nord and Imperial, not something that was seen every day in Skyrim.

"Shut up over there!" The captain shouted at them, silencing the conversation and drawing their attention back to her. It seemed that it was their groups turn to be listed and lead away to their deaths.

Hadvar cleared his throat as he looked to his list and began calling them out one at a time. The first name called was Ulfric, followed by Ralof and then Lokir. He of course tried to beg for his life, but when that proved not to work he foolishly decided to run. Anyone could tell that it was not a wise idea to try to escape when there were so many archers around waiting for just that to happen, and it proved to not work in his favor.

He had only covered a little distance before he fell to the ground with several arrows in his body.

"Anyone _else_ want to try running?" the captain asked, scanning the prisoners, and scoffing when no one else dared to brave a run through arrows.

But, now that Lokir was dealt with, there was only the two left, and Hadvar could only give them a curious look before scanning his list.

"Who are you?" he asked them, so it appeared that they were not on it, reasonable enough. They had both been caught and dragged onto the wagon when the prisoners were about to be taken away, after all the names had been already jotted down. No one bothered to update the list before handing it over.

The Imperial-Nord flashed another smirk as though to show he still had pride and confidence despite being stripped of his armor and weapons and subsequently bounded up, "Colbran Snowstrum at your service," he said, giving a mock bow which only served to annoy Hadvars captain.

"And you?" Hadvar asked, turning his attention to the one beside Colbran.

She looked down, fidgeting in her spot, "I… I'm…." her voice grew softer as she spoke and her name uttered so quietly that no one was able to hear her at all.

"Speak up!" The Imperial captain barked sharply, causing her to step back in fright. Honestly, who pissed in her mead this morning? But Colbran gently nudged the younger one forward best he could with bound hands, giving her a patient smile.

She appreciated the gesture, and slowly, her voice trembling, she spoke her name. "I-I'm Shuraja," It was still softspoken, but loud enough this time the three could hear her without straining to do so.

When she finished she had ducked her head down once more though Colbran offered her a smile as though to say 'good job' while Hadvar reviewed his list, searching for them.

"Captain, neither of them are on the list," Hadvar informed after a moment, looking at her and waiting for her answer, "What should we do?"

Hope sprung up within both Colbran and Shuraja at hearing that, to them it was much like a saving grace. They weren't on the damn list, and as far as the Imperials knew, they didn't commit any crime to be here. They couldn't execute them for no reason, so they had to let them go, right?

The Imperial captain glared at him, clearly not entertained by his question as to her the answer was obvious and reached over to rip the list from his hands and tearing it into pieces. "Forget the list! They go to the block!"

The hope that they had was dashed within seconds. Apparently the Empire _could_ execute them for no reason.

"By your orders, Captain," Hadvar sighed, looking at the two and giving them both sympathetic looks, "I'm sorry, I'll see to it that your remains are sent home to your families," he assured them.

Colbran just gave a short and bitter laugh, "Yeah, they'll _love_ to receive that delivery," he muttered, sarcasm dripping from every word as he and Shuraja began following the captain. Walking the few feet over to the crowd of prisoners, soldiers, and onlookers. Throughout the crowd there were people screaming at the Stormcloaks, calling them traitors and cowards, cheering for the execution about to take place while Tullius stood in front of and mocked Ulfric.

"Wouldn't be so brave as to do that if the guy wasn't bound and gagged," Colbran mumbled as he and Shuraja took their stand between a soldier and Ralof. The latter nodding in agreement.

Though for the most part throughout the entire ordeal to get to this point, he had put on a laugh, a grin and showed nothing but amusement and high spirits, that was nowhere near what he felt inside. A trickle of sweat began to form on the back of Colbrans neck, and he swallowed hard though a lump had formed in his throat. Though he refused to show it- years of acting and lying had taught him how to put up quite the façade- the young man was scared.

Did he deserve to die? Yes, he probably did, there were likely quite the number of people who wanted him dead and he wasn't going to deny that. For years he wore that fact as though it were a badge of honor, but that was not the case here. He wasn't _ready_ for this, he didn't want to die. He was only twenty-four, he still had a whole life ahead of him to live, too many years left to go for it to all end now with a single fall of a blade.

But, to offer some form of distraction for himself and the younger woman beside himself, he turned to Shuraja and gave her a small smile, hoping it would help to at least ease her nerves even if just a little. He had a feeling that she was the only one here who had done nothing to deserve execution, a lamb among wolves was the image that came to mind when looking at her, and if he could give her some assurance before death, well his mother always told him to offer only kindness to women if they weren't holding a blade to his neck or poison in his drink.

"So, what were you doing coming to Skyrim anyways?" he asked in a whisper, conversation was a useful tool to avert focus from what was before him in his opinion.

But Shuraja glanced up at him and then looked away again, head lowered and a silent but clear message rang out; _I don't want to talk about it_.

Colbran shrugged at her response, "Got it, either a personal subject or a touchy one, or you just don't feel like talking about it to a stranger," he said, and turned his attention back to the block as they began bringing the first victim up. A Stormcloak soldier who, by the looks and sounds of it, seemed rather eager for his execution.

Maybe he was just sick of all of this waiting and dealing with the Imperials that he just wanted it to be over with. Colbran could relate if that was the case, he certainly had some similar situations, though none had included actual death.

"My ancestors are _smiling_ down at me, Imperials, can you say the same?" he spat as he was pushed down until his face was pressed against the stone block.

As the Headsman began to get into stance, a silence fell over the area for only a second while a strange sound echoed through the sky. Heads scanned above and at the surrounding structures to try and locate its source as murmurs of worry rose among everyone. Even Hadvar voiced his confusion and the question many were wondering; what was that?

But the question was shot down by yells that it was nothing, and the crowd was quick, if not reluctant, to accept that as the captain brought attention back to the execution. Seconds later the sound of steel against stone rang through and the Stormcloak soldiers head had fallen to the ground a foot or so away from its body.

Ralof lowered his head in respect at this, "As fearless in death as he was in battle," he murmured, sending a silent prayer to the gods above for his fallen comrade just as several others were doing.

More screams came from the Helgen citizens as they cheered the Imperials and insulted the Stormcloaks. Though a few of the rebels voiced their disgust back at the Imperials.

"Next prisoner!" the captain yelled out, gaze narrowing in on Shuraja, "The Nord in rags!"

As attention fell on her, and realizing that she was next to die, her legs froze in place. Shuraja could only stare in terror at the soldiers before her, at the Captain, at the Headsman and at the still warm body not yet moved that laid before the block.

Her body trembled, and a layer of sweat began to form. Though she tried to, to at least not to make the Imperial captain any angrier than she appeared to be, she couldn't move her body to step forward. Her body was completely paralyzed with fear, as though she had been shot with a paralysis spell, she just couldn't move.

The same sound resonated through the air once more and as before questions shot through crowd. This time the sound had been louder, and it was easier to make it out as some kind or roar.

"Did you hear it? There it was again!" Hadvar yelled out, scanning the sky for its source but again there was nothing in there but clouds and birds.

The captain gave him a sharp look and a quick order to shut up before she yelled once more at the prisoners, or rather at Shuraja, "I _said_ ; next prisoner!" she barked out, trying to draw the crowds attention away from the sky and back to the execution once more.

Colbran gave her a strained but sympathetic smile, "Be brave," he whispered to her as she slowly made her way to the block.

Each step taken was shaky, her legs threatening to give out under her and the few feet to her death spot felt like a mile. She wondered if she was shaking so badly that everyone could see it, it felt like it at least. Never before had she ever been so terrified.

Then again, never before had she been walking to her own death.

She didn't want to die, not like this and not now! They had no reason to kill her, this wasn't fair, and this wasn't _justice_! She screamed inside of her head a lament of this cruelty, hoping that someone might stop this and save her. Wasn't the Empire supposed to keep people safe, not execute the innocent?

When she reached them, the captain forcefully shoved her onto her knees and quickly pressed her face against the block. The stone brick scratched roughly against her face, part of it cold bust most of it was warm and wet from the blood of the previous prisoner. Her stomach turned as she took in the scent of it.

The way she was positioned, she had a clear view of the Headsman beside her and cold dread filled her body.

He looked at her, expression unreadable through his mask and raised his bloodied axe. It was high in the air, sunlight glinting off it and a few drops of blood trickling off it and onto Shurajas face. But just as she could clearly see the Headsman, she could also see the buildings and sky behind him, and the large dark figure that was in it and flying towards them.

Screams followed as others spotted the beast and moments later it landed on the building directly in front of her, taking a second as though to access the crowd. Once again it let out a bellowing roar with an incredible force behind it which knocked even the towering Headsman over and left Shuraja quite disorientated.

What kind of roar was _that_?

If Shuraja wasn't already in such a state of terror and confusion, she might have screamed at the sight of the dragon. It looked like something straight out of a nightmare.

"What in Oblivion is that?" An Imperial yelled out as though it wasn't obvious from appearance. Archers began aiming and firing at the dragon in an attempt to bring it down, though it had little affect and the beast seemed to only shrug off the attack before letting out another powerful roar, and the world around Shuraja became blurry.

Minutes later, or perhaps only seconds, she felt something roughly shaking her which served to cause the stone block her face was still pressed against become more painful as it scraped against her face. She wanted to move and swat the person away but her hands were still bound and her body still stiff from the fear.

"Shuraja! Shuraja hurry! Get up, we won't be given another chance!"

From the sound of the voice, Shuraja could tell that it was Colbran. Slowly the world began coming back into focus and he was quick to help get her standing on her own feet, trembling and unbalanced as they felt. She tried to take in what was happening the best she could, though there wasn't much to take in, the entire city was in chaos and blasts of fire were raining down from above.

"Hurry up you two!" Ralof yelled from ahead of them, and Colbran pulled Shuraja forward, helping her stumble after the Stormcloak soldier into the tower for protection.

There were others within them as the door was pushed closed, all Stormcloak soldiers and possibly the only ones still alive at this point from the group that came to Helgen. As Shuraja sat down, or rather collapsed onto the ground, she did her best to listen to what was being said and watch as the men and women slowly had their binds removed and tried to rummage for anything they could use.

To little surprise, Ulfric was among those who made it to the tower and was rubbing his sore jaw after removing the gag, quickly entering an argument with Ralof over what had happened and more importantly what that thing out there was.

"That was not a fairytale," Colbran broke in, siding with Ulfric as he took a seat next to Shuraja and taking hold of her still bound hands. He had already gotten the rope tied around his wrists removed and set to work cutting off Shuraja's with the dagger he borrowed, "Fairytales are supposed to be nice and sweet things you tell to make people feel better and not be outside your door trying to kill you."

Shuraja nodded to agree with him, rubbing her now free and sore wrists while the other returned the knife. The three continued to talk, trying to figure out what to do now but she tuned them out in favor for pondering over whether the stone tower would honestly be durable against the dragon if it set its sights on it, or if they would even be safe against the Imperials if they tried to run. Though they had their hands full outside to fight the dragon, so trying to get by them might not be too hard. They were certainly the least of her worries right now.

Having left the conversation shortly after, Colbran walked back and sat beside Shuraja. Taking this as a chance to rest and let the adrenalin still coursing through him to settle down. Though his rest was short lived as even the tower began to shudder, alerting them that it wasn't safe to stay in there too long.

"Come on!" Ulfric yelled out, gaining the attention of the few within the structure, "Up the tower, now!" he ordered.

Being seated at its steps, Colbran and Shuraja were the first ones to run up there with Ralof behind, though both were wondering and questioning the Jarls logic behind climbing _up_ the tower. Wouldn't it have been safer to try to stay on ground level or even better, underground?

There was a warning sound at the wall as the dragon came to hold on the other side, a warning that Colbran caught on and was quick to grab Shuraja and pull her back and pressed against the inner wall just as the outer wall ahead of them was broken open and a jet of fire shot inside. The blood roaring inside of Colbrans ears was louder than the dragons, and if it heard Shuraja's scream, it ignored it, quickly flying off to another target.

"T-thank you," Shuraja whispered, eyes wide as she stared at the spot she had been at moments ago, a spot now under a pile of rubble. If Colbran hadn't pulled her out of the way, she would have been dead.

He just flashed her a wiry smile, half-forced under this stress. That had been close, far closer than he would have liked. The flames had licked at his skin, and the heat certainly was uncomfortable at this close range and high intensity, but the most damage suffered was a few scrapes from flying stone. He had reacted quick this time to prevent anything worse from happening.

But, it would look like they wouldn't be going up any higher, the rest of the stairs was blocked off by rubble, and a few larger pieces had tumbled down, blocking the path downwards too. It looked like it could be climbed over, but it was far too risky to try.

"See that inn over there?" Ralof yelled, gesturing to the hole the dragon had left in the wall, and Colbran peered over to it at the building. Its upper floor had been nearly completely destroyed, leaving the roof gone and several holes in the floor down to ground level. "Jump to it, I'll catch up to you!" he yelled to them before running down the stairs to regroup with the others.

It wasn't too far of a jump, but it was also still risky, especially with the beams that still jutted out from the roof. It felt like a suicidal idea, but it was the only one they had that could be used.

"I'm starting to wonder if they're just throwing us to the wolves so they can escape," Colbran said as he turned to look at Shuraja, forcing himself to look as amused at the situation as he could, "But hey, not the first time someone's done that to me." His attempt to make her smile didn't work, so he took a step towards her.

"Are you okay?" he asked, now serious. "Will you jump?" It wasn't as though they had any choice, but if she didn't jump and stayed here, it was dangerous. Between the dragon and Imperials who may be looking for the escaped prisoners, she would be in danger if she stayed here.

Shuraja took a step backwards but then stepped forward again. She wanted to run, this was a crazy idea and they were going to die, but now wasn't a time to run, besides she had nowhere to go but the in. So she gave a small nod in confirmation, "I…I can… I'm good a-at jumping," she mumbled the simple, voice breaking a few times with her own fear. But Colbran just gave her a smile.

"Good! Then, on the count of three," he said, focusing on the inn for a moment to make sure that this _would_ work, and then turned his attention to her once again, "Once we get down there, follow close to me, we'll try and find Ralof or an exit to this city, whichever comes first," he explained, and his insistence that they stick together must have surprised her so he flashed her a smile, "I'm not going to leave you to the soldiers or dragons, so don't worry. I'm planning on sticking with you until the end, I've got a good feeling about you."

He lived his life trusting his instincts, and his instincts were saying that the girl was someone he should stay with. His instincts were right _most_ of the time, and now was not a time to doubt them.

Shuraja blinked and quickly looked away, "O….okay?" she said, or rather asked, unsure what the proper way to respond to that statement was considering he was a stranger.

But focus shifted back to their landing spot and Colbran felt his muscles tighten and relax, "Alright… One…. Two….three!" he shouted, springing off the ledge. The fall lasted only a second or two before he tumbled against wooden flooring, receiving a few scrapes and bruises but for the most part alright. Shuraja landed a few moments later, sliding against the floor and right into him.

Wincing at the light sting his legs felt, Colbran stood up and held a hand out to help her up, "You okay?" he asked the Nord as she took his hand, pulling her up to her feet.

Shifting her weight from one leg to the other, Shuraja made a sound of affirmation, nodding her head, "Y-yeah… I think so at least."

It was a good enough answer and Colbran nodded, looking around for a way out. Looked like the stairs were destroyed, so jumping through the holes would be their only way of getting out of the inn. Thankfully it wasn't that far, a shorter jump compared to the one they had just made at least.

"Come on," he said, gesturing for Shuraja to follow as he slid down the hole. When she came down, she stumbled, nearly falling if he hadn't helped steady her. But as expected, it was easier than the first one.

Now that they were at ground level, they would have to be careful and get through without being attacked. Difficult considering all the soldiers, but their attention seemed fixed on the dragon, and the dragon on them. Then again, it could be just as true that the dragon was focused on anything moving and breathing, so that would make them fair game to it as well.

As they made their way out of the inn, Colbran quickly shoved Shuraja against a wall to hide her, pressing himself against her as well before peering over the wooden structure they hide behind at the dragon that had landed. They would have walked right into the battle zone if he hadn't acted so quickly.

As the dragon flew off, he made note of the remaining soldiers who were firing at it still, recognizing Hadvar as one of them. The latter was carrying a child who had also hidden when the dragon touched down to fight, making his way through the streets to either to find the childs parents or to get the kid out of there.

"You know? I kind of hope that captain got eaten," Colbran said as he lead Shuraja out of the inn and between the buildings as quickly as they could. Thankfully it was just as he thought, the soldiers didn't even care about the two as they attacked the monster, "She was just awful, and mean, I think she deserved it if she did get eaten, don't you?"

"Don't say that," Shuraja mumbled, even if she had been rather hostile to them, no one deserved to be killed by a dragon. Right?

Instead of verbalizing a response, Colbran just shrugged. It wasn't worth arguing over, "We need to get out of here," he said as he scanned the air for the dragon, "And find Ralof if we can, I hope the man is still alive."

All around them was chaos, dizzying so even. Soldiers were yelling commands, civilians were crying out, dragons were roaring. All together it just mixed into an unrecognizable blur of noise. Colbran scrunched up his face as the smell of burnt flesh reached his nose and didn't even dare to look at the burnt corpses they were running past. He had to not let his fear show as he guided Shuraja out of the warzone. The smaller figure was, on the other hand, showing all the fear he refused to. Her body shook as she fought back tears caused either from the terror or the smoke, possibly both, as she followed close behind him.

"It's going to be okay, we're going to get through this, Shuraja," Colbran assured her.

But as a large shadow flew over them, he quickly and instinctively pressed his back against the stone wall, Shuraja doing the same.

They both look up in horror when the shadow didn't go away and the wall shuddered against them. The dragon had landed on it, letting out a bout of fire directly at the people in front of them. So close were they that the heat was unbearable against their skin. Before it flew off to terrorize another part of the town it had glanced down. Shurajas heart had frozen when it look right at them, but it had quickly looked away and flew away.

"Did it…it… it…" She whispered, knees shaking as she peeled herself away from the wall.

But Colbran began running once more, forcing her to chase after, "Don't think about it, just keep running!" he yelled, passing by just as many dead and dying soldiers as they were passing living ones. No one seemed to notice or care that they were escaping, but then again Colbran didn't care if they did. He just wanted to get out of there _alive_.

"There you are!" Ralof yelled, and had he not done so they would have run right past him, but sure enough they slowed and began making their way to him. "Follow me, into the Keep!" he yelled, pushing the heavy door open for all of them.

The two slipped in behind him, and Ralof quickly shoved the door shut.

The room was completely barren minus a single Stormcloak corpse lying on the ground. One whom Ralof was quick to be at the side of, after identifying who it was and confirming the death, he spoke his soft good bye.

While he did that, Shuraja and Colbran leaned against a table, panting for breath and exchanging multiple glances to confirm that the other was indeed still there. Neither could really believe their luck, though could any of this really be considered luck? They had avoided execution, narrowly in Shuraja's case, but then at the same time they had to escape a dragon.

Avoid one dire situation, only to be thrust right into another.

"A dragon…. A bloody dragon," Colbran breathed, the events that had just happened were finally taking effect and that mixed with the adrenalin coursing through his body, he began laughing. Ralof and Shuraja watched with concern as he bent over, hands over his stomach as he laughed. His body was shaking, crying out in pain from the exertion, "Oh Gods, this is just… this is a nightmare! We survived, this is a nightmare and _we survived_!"

"Don't count this a victory just yet," Ralof warned, looking at the door. The battle outside was still loud, the dragons roars deafening even through stone. "We still need to get away from Helgen, thankfully there is a tunnel through here that'll get us out." He then took in the apparel of the two and gestured to the corpse, "Take his gear, he won't be needing it any longer and you two will need it more."

Nodding, Colbran knelt before the deceased and began rummaging through him, working to get the weapons and sheaths unhooked, handing the helmet to Shuraja, "You want the armor?" He asked.

Shuraja gave a hesitant shake of the head, "T-thank you but, I can… I'm not a close combat person…. I mean I'm n-not a _combat_ p-person I've never fought before but, I," she continued to fumble over her words as she tried to explain herself, "I u-use magic… I w-wont n-need it" she finally mumbled. It was a partial truth, she wouldn't mind using the armor and with her lack of experience in fighting she would need to protect herself better but that would require two things she wasn't comfortable with; stripping and defiling corpses, and stripping to her own undergarments in front of two men she barely knew.

At least they seemed to accept it and Ralof even raised an eyebrow at her explanation, "Mage, eh?" he asked and she nodded a quick confirmation.

Colbran just shrugged, it didn't matter either way to him so long as nothing was wasted. The armor was more his size anyways, it would have been baggy on Shuraja, they would have to pay attention to the size. So, without further delay he began to strip himself of his own rags, not minding that he was in the presence of a woman. Though Shurajas face was quick to turn red as she turned to look away as he put on the armor, not turning until he let her know he was decent.

Picking up the axe, he began giving it a few practice swings to test its weight and his own handle on it, "Nice weapon, not the best but it's decent in appearance and it's blade is sharp enough to deal enough damage," he murmured, running his finger along the blade. He could fetch a fair price on this if he sold it. Which he probably would once they got out of there, there was always a need for money and he would need better gear.

While he had been doing that, Ralof had gone to work trying to open the doors to get them out. But there was no way out from where they were, one end opened from the other side, and the other door was locked, they would need a key.

Thankfully their key to getting through was just coming in.

"Imperials!" Ralof hissed quietly, quickly moving to the side and out of sight of those coming to the doorway, "Attack when they're in, one of them might have a key," was the whispered command as Colbran slide to the wall on the other end of the door and Shuraja scrambled after him.

Sure enough, they could hear the soldiers speaking to each other, barking orders and unaware of what was in the next room, least of all the ambush they were about to walk into.

When the door opened and the two had stepped in, Colbran and Ralof sprung to action. For Colbran, it was a stroke of luck that one of the two just happened to be the Imperial captain that he had grown to resent in such a short time. Their axes bearing down on the soldiers without mercy, and thought they were able to deal a good amount of damage initially due to their advantage for surprise, the other two were quick to retaliate and fight back just as hard.

Steel clashed against steel, calls and insults were hurled as blood splattered against the ground. All the while Shuraja had fallen back into a corner of the room trying to stay out of the fight. Ralof and Colbran may have been seasoned and experienced fighters, but Shuraja was not. Even if she could use magic to fight, she was not nearly confident in her own ability to use it in a fight and _not_ strike her 'allies' in the process too.

The last thing she wanted was to hurt them while trying to be of use, in fact she felt she was doing everyone a favor by not involving herself in the fight.

While Colbran and Ralof quickly attacked, their axes baring down on the two soldiers, it was over before the Imperials knew what had hit them and the two bodies fell limply to the ground with blood pooling around them.

"That's over with," Colbran said as he looped the axe around its sheath on his hip and knelt before the body. At first Shuraja wasn't sure what he was doing, but as he began rummaging through the corpse and removing pieces of armor she got the idea. As he slipped on a piece of the captain's armor, Colbran pursed his lips in annoyance, "To small. Figures. Shuraja, you can wear it," he said tossing the piece of steel at her.

She awkwardly caught it as he continued to strip the corpses of their valuables, "W-what?" she asked, looking down at it and then up at him, "Why are you, w-why are you taking f-from them?"

He didn't bat an eyelash as he finished stripping the captain to her undergarments, nudging the armor to Shuraja before he set to work on stripping the other soldier. "Imperial armor is better than Stormcloak armor, no offence," he added to Ralof and gave a shrug. This time the armor was more his size than the other so he could put it on unlike the captains, "Besides, you need armor too, more so than we do it looks. I don't care if you disagree, you're wearing armor."

Making a noise torn between disagreement and giving in, Shuraja tugged at the edge of her shirt. Was she supposed to strip off her rags or did she put the armor over it, not as though she wanted to strip in front of the men but Colbran wasn't going to let her say no to the armor. Giving in, she slipped the pieces on over her clothes as awkward as it may have been.

Why was armor so uncomfortable to put on and wear, though she may have just been putting it on wrong.

When she had the armor on, Colbran tossed her a sword for when her magicka ran out, not that it would be of much use, she was as inexperienced in swords as they came.

But Colbran gave her a look of approval, nodding as she gave it a few practice swings- it was far to awkward for her to handle- while Ralof took the key found on the corpse of the captain and unlocked the other gate.

"Ready to finally escape from this accursed town?" Colbran asked as Shuraja sheathed the sword, "This time we'll be able to fight for our lives."


	2. The First Quest

**Authors Note:** And with this, not only is the revamped version twice as long as the original version already, but all the original chapters have been redone.

I do hope you enjoy and I would love to know what you guys think about this. Please do enjoy, and let me know if you find errors or things that can be improved

* * *

It had taken what felt like hours to get through the rooms and tunnels so they could escape. But the three had made it and were no worse for wear. A few scrapes, bruises and bumps, but nothing major that could slow them down. But even their minor wounds were of little importance to them. What mattered was that they had _escaped_. From this point on they were essentially free men and women again.

Colbran sat at the mouth of the exit, rummaging through the contents of his bag he'd stolen in a torture room they had to pass through. Both he and Shuraja were still together, having come to the mutual and unspoken agreement to not part ways just yet. Ralof had on the other hand gone on ahead of them to Riverwood, suggesting they do the same with the promise that his sister could help them.

The three could have gone on together, but Shuraja had been left in a state of complete exhaustion, once again emphasizing how weak her body was and how new she was to this much danger and physical exertion. Her magicka had also been drained as well, adding to the need for a short rest and recharge. She had told the men to go on ahead of her, but Colbran had insisted that he should stay with her.

Thankfully, understanding of how new the two were to Skyrim and its geography, Ralof had bestowed upon Colbran directions to Riverwood.

Sitting atop of one of the larger and smoother bits of stone that jutted from the ground not far from Colbran, Shuraja remained silent while staring down at her feet, knee pulled close to her chest with arms wrapped around them. She had a few strands of blonde hair that was sticking to her damp forehead, and the rest felt like a tangled mess after the day's events.

No longer was she wearing the Imperial armor Colbran made her wear, instead she had shed it in favor of novice mage robes that her companion had looted off a dead man in the torture chamber. While it did take away what little defense she had, the enchanted robes were better for a mage to wear, allowing her freer movements and her magicka was regenerating at a faster rate than it would have without the robes.

Though the process of changing into them had been rather embarrassing as it required her to strip not only the armor from herself but the prisoner clothes this time. Thankfully Ralof and Colbran had been respectful enough not to watch her change clothes. Her stomach turned however when she thought of how a corpse had been wearing these robes only a while ago.

"Is your magic back yet?" Colbran asked from beside her, startling Shuraja from her thoughts. He had moved so quietly that she hadn't even heard him coming. But he simple ignored her surprise and brought the back of his hand to his own face, wiping away some sweat.

Recovering quickly, Shuraja gave a timid nod and slid off from her perch.

"Come on then, we need to get to Riverwood before it gets dark," Colbran said, slinging the bulging bag back over his shoulder and gestured to it, "We can probably sell the things in here too if we find a shop. Getting some gold is a good way to start off, we'll need supplies, food and places to sleep," and he was right in needed these things. Though Shuraja had to wonder if anyone would buy what he had collected if they knew they were all stolen or picked up during their escape.

She knew they had worth to them, but because she didn't know the value of things in Skyrim, Shuraja didn't want to guess as to what they would be worth here. If they were selling in Elsweyr, she could give accurate prices and sell them for more even.

But Syrim wasn't Elsweyr, wasn't even close.

And though the bag was bulging, appearing as heavy as can be, it was sandwiched between a quiver and a shield. It looked so awkward and painful to carry around, but Colbran didn't appear bothered by its weight at all. He just marched on forward as though it weighed nothing.

His previous career had taught him how to carry as many items as he could, added with his own physical strength, he was proud to say he had a rather larger carrying capacity than most men he met. His job had also given him a keen eye for worth like Shuraja, meaning that what he had picked up and taken, while not worth a lot, was certainly worth _some_ gold. Even just a handful was better than none at all.

As he began his hike down the path, Shuraja close behind him, Colbran began thinking over the directions that Ralof had given him. Trying to make a guess as to how long it would take, "Ralof said it wasn't too far away," he said, glancing back at her, "Maybe an hour, give or take," after he said that, she gave him a tiny nod as though to say 'okay'. After that, the two fell into silence.

Silence was, to say the least, not the best situation to be in. While Shuraja was perfectly fine with it, preferring it even over conversation, Colbran hated it. Silence was akin to torture for a man as talkative as he was, as was seen during their time together escaping with his countless remarks and comments. He hated the silence, it made him uncomfortable and it put him on edge.

But he could tell that Shuraja was the opposite of that; talking to others was what made her uncomfortable and anxious. Forcing her into a conversation wasn't a great way to start off their friendship, so he would try to stay quiet for as long as he could even if he hated it.

Ten minutes would pass quickly during the silence, Colbran would find things to distract him as they walked. Currently what he was doing was balancing on a log as they walked, arms outstretched as he took each step, and that was around the time their silence had been broken. Not by him surprisingly, it was Shuraja who spoke first.

"So…um… w-whats your story?" she asked, hesitantly and timidly, clearly afraid to ask and cross a line.

Bit Colbran couldn't have been happier to have something to talk about and he jumped from the log to walk at her side. A slightly smug smirk was on his face in response to her initiation to a conversation. To him, as small of a thing this may be, it was a bit like a victory.

"What do you mean?"

His smirk was teasing now, showing he knew what she meant by her question, but just wanted her to continue talking. Shuraja just looked down at the ground, taking a minute to find her words before speaking again, "Why… w-why did you come to Skyrim? I-I mean, you were c-crossing the border to get into here too….right?" Worry flashed across her face after she finished, now afraid that she had made a false assumption at him and assumed he had done what she had done when he had gotten caught.

In response to her expression of doubt and worry, Colbran put a hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter before giving her an answer. "You're right, I did sneak into here, and it's a bit of a long story. But, well I suppose he have the time," he said, falling silent for a second or two to wait to see if she would respond while he figured out where to start.

When Shuraja said nothing, he began speaking, "Well, to begin with, I'm from Cyrodiil, my parents owned a small mine in there. My mother was an Imperial, she inherited the mine from her father. My father, a Nord, was from Skyrim and always talked about this place, so I guess that's what game me a desire to visit someday, but that's not the reason why I came here."

Colbran continued to talk, explaining how his parents had been successful in their mine, and how he had spent his entire childhood helping them and the miners, even mining himself until he was sixteen. Sometime in that sixteenth year of his life, he had come to realize that mining wasn't his calling, and so he packed a bag left to find his purpose in life. Traveling all across the country, trying to find where his felt at home. It didn't go as smoothly as one would hope.

He had been foolish and started gambling in hopes of earning more money, and half a year later he had lost all the money he had. Desperate, Colbran had resorted to pickpocketing to gain coin for food and lodging, and had in fact learned he was a natural at the skill, and later learned he was talented at all aspects of theft. His life as a thief had thus begun.

"I was in this thieves group," Colbran said, his voice was laced with pride and arrogance even if he was admitting to being in a group of criminals, "I was the leader of the group in fact, and the best thief in the area. No one could pick more pockets than me, no one could rob a person blind better than I could," He had been so good at what he did that no one had ever caught him in the act before. Though, Shuraja suspected that was a bit of exaggeration on his part.

His eyes narrowed then and he looked down, frowning and taking on a bitter tone as he remembered an unpleasant memory.

"There was this one man though, he was a friend, sort of. We were rivals in the group, both extremely good but he envied my role as leader. He was kind of a bastard, had no manners at all. He wanted to take control of the group so badly he betrayed me and screwed me over on my last job."

Colbran went off to explain how he was going to steal for a rather prominent noble, but his rival had tipped the guards off, even going as far as to tell them _how_ Colbran worked when it came to break ins and theft. They had laid in wait for him and before he knew it, they were on him like a pack of hounds. Colbran had done what he could to escape, had even though he had lost them. But as he went back to the hideout, it had turned out the guards had been tailing him in silence. So when he arrived, so did the guards ready to arrest and capture all the thieves in the group.

"It had all been a part of the bastards plan," Colbran said, anger prominent in his voice now, "While he tipped the guards off so they would follow me, he told the group that I had betrayed them and was bringing guards to capture them all for a large bounty. So, when I arrived with the guards hot on my tail, they naturally took his side over mine." He had lost the group he had spent years building up due to one jealous member.

"If I hadn't kept running, from them and from the guards, I would have been dead. My plan if I ever found trouble was to go to Elsweyr, at least that's what I told everyone, and they would have assumed that was where I went when in fact I made my way to Skyrim," Colbran said and gave a small laugh, "Too bad I didn't pay attention to what was going on in this place, stumbled across the battlefield and got mistaken for a Stormcloak. And, well, you know what happens after that."

He sighed, but that soon turned into a smile as wrapped an arm around Shurajas shoulder and brought her into a side hug. "But, I wouldn't have gotten to meet you if that hadn't happened. Right, Shu?" he asked, giving her a friendly smile.

Shuraja could only stare at him in confusion, "Shu?" she repeated, focused on the nickname moreso then what he had just said before it. She was a tad disappointed to learn that he was a thief however. He seemed far too _nice_ to be a thief, but that just went to show not all of them were rude and cutthroats. She just hoped he wasn't faking the kindness.

"I shortened your name," Colbran explained with a little laugh, "I'm sorry but Shuraja is kind of a mouthful for me, one of those names that you just feel like you're mispronouncing no matter what, you know? Besides, I think Shu suits you, it's cute like you even."

Her face was quick to turn red, unused to getting comments of the, had she ever been called cute by anyone other than her family? Not that she could remember, "T-thank you," was the mumbled response, hoping that it was adequate enough for him.

Laughing some more at her own flustered state, Colbran let her go and took a few steps to give her distance, "Anyways, I told you my story. Now it's your turn to tell me yours," he said, giving her the look a mischievous child might have, "Fair is fair after all, no?"

"I…. I would r-rather not, if that's okay?"

Having his request shot down, annoyance stirred within him, but he pushed it down and shrugged, "Okay. I'll have to ask another time, because now I'm really curious," he said with as much of an 'I don't really care either way' attitude as he could muster when he did in fact care about her not wanting to tell him. When someone didn't want to talk about something, it usually meant that it was something personal and something bad.

Or it could also just be due to how shy she seemed to be and just wasn't comfortable talking about it.

"Can you at least tell me one thing?" Colbran asked, glancing back at her again as he tugged and shifted one of the bags straps over his shoulder. When Shu made a noncommittal noise of agreement, he furred his eyebrows as he stared intently at her. "How old are you anyways?" He was guessing she was probably around twenty or so, she didn't look like she could be much older than that, and he couldn't see why anyone _younger_ than that would be traveling to an entirely different land on their own.

That seemed to not have been something that Shuraja had been expecting and she stumbled midstep, "W-what? Why are you asking that?" she asked as she regained her footing, didn't he know it was rude to ask a girl her age? But after recovering, she looked down at the ground, her answer was mumbled and soft, but Colbran was able to catch it still even if it was difficult. "I'm sixteen."

"That so? Well, I had figured as much," Wait…. _Sixteen_? Now it was his turn to stumble as he walked, "Wait, _what_? You're just a kid!" he yelled out, ignoring the way she flinched at his raised voice. Sixteen and she had almost been executed, that wasn't right. Why was she even here and not with her family? Knowing that she was that young only served to bring more and more questions.

"I-I'm not a kid!" She yelled back, it seemed as though she had done this argument often with how quick she responded, and he could see why. Anyone would question why someone so young was traveling so far. "I- sixteen is still an adult! I'm just- I'm just a young adult, but I'm not a kid! I-I'm old enough t-to join armies, so there!" And as though to prove her point of not being a kid, she childishly puffed out her cheeks and _pouted_.

Colbran felt his surprise trickle away. He had to admit that she was right, sixteen was the threshold of adulthood. Not a child, but barely an adult, he couldn't argue with that. After all, he had been sixteen once and he certainly hadn't seen himself as a kid. Still… it was unsettling to think about someone so young being put to the block. Not to mention how terrible the world can be, and she was going out at it all alone and unable to fight- if Shu tried to argue he would just remind her how poorly she did back in the tunnels. Being able to use magic and being able to fight were two different things, and actually putting her spells to use in a fight was not something she was familiar with.

He doubted she had ever been in a fight for her life before coming to Skyrim.

Staring at her intently, Colbran came to the silent decision that he _had_ to stay with her, at least until she didn't need him to stick around. Someone had to watch over her and keep her safe, he would feel awful if she got killed while out on her own, and from what he had seen of her already, it wouldn't be _hard_ to kill her, which would only serve to make him feel worse if he left her on her own and that happened. After all, though he had only known her for a short time, he had already grown rather attached to the young mage.

One of his faults had always been that for better or for worse he was always quick to grow attached to others, especially those weaker than himself.

"W-what, why are you staring at me?" Shu asked, stepping back in worry and hand coming up to touch her own face, searching over the skin with her fingertips, "Do I h-have something on my face?" she asked worriedly.

Blinking, Colbran hadn't even realized he'd been staring for that long, he shook his head, "No, just trying to figure out how you can be so adorable," he lied quickly and smoothly, giving one of his infamous cheeky smiles. Another of his faults was that he gave out comments such as those at the drop of a hat, sometimes with the intention to flirt but not always. "I don't think it should be possible, you have to be using illusion magic or something."

Shuraja's face turned a bright red at the compliment, second one today, what was going on? But before she could even respond Colbran had quickly and suddenly broken into a run, slowing down when he was a little bit ahead of her, "Come on, we're here!" he yelled, and sure enough the town was just within view.

"W-wait up!" Shu yelled back, sprinting to catch up with him, and with a laugh the thief had started running again, making sure to stay just a little ways in front of her, yet always out of reach.

When he did come to a stop at the entrance of the town, Shuraja nearly ran right into him.

It was a quaint little town from the first glance. Not too big, actually it was rather small. The kind of town you could circle in just a few minutes. But it seemed friendly, at least.

Right at one of the first houses there was an elderly woman shouting about dragons, though her son was quick to dismiss the claim. It made Colbran wonder how many people actually had spotted the dragon, one would think that a small town like this would be more worried if they had known about the beast. But Riverwood was as peaceful as they came.

"Probably a good thing," he mumbled, and when Shu gave him a confused look, he shrugged it off with a smile, "Nothing, nothing to worry about," he assured her and shrugged off the bag, holding it out to her, "I'm going to try and find Ralof, see if he's still here and if there's anything we need to know about Skyrim before setting off. Can you go to the town merchant or trader or whoever and see if you can sell any of this? Maybe buy some food?" he asked her.

Shu took the bag from him and nodded, not in any real position to argue with him, let alone having a reason to argue with him in the first place. She tried to sling the bag over her shoulder much like he did only to have it go half way the distance before falling back. She tried a few more times before Colbran stepped in with a laugh.

"Hold still," he said, taking it from her and helping to put it on. Shuraja's face began to burn from the embarrassment of not being able to do such a simple task herself, but once he let go of the bag, her legs nearly gave out from under its weight, stifling a groan.

How had Colbran been able to carry it so easily?

Somehow she remained standing, which earned a smile of approval from her companion before he made his way to find Ralof and complete his own task. Leaving Shu to try and find any trader and sell what he had accumulated.

It shouldn't be too hard she decided, while she may not be the best at talking to others, she knew how to bargain for a good price. It was one of those things that she had picked up growing up. All that she really needed to do was find where she could sell them at. This town wasn't large enough to have specific stores for certain items, so her best bet was to find a general goods type store.

Spotting the same man she had passed by when entering the town, Sven she thought she heard him be called by, Shuraja made her way over to him as quickly as she could. Almost tripping a few steps under the weight of the bag- seriously how could Colbran carry this so effortlessly?

"E-excuse me- sir? Excuse me!" Shuraja called out, catching Svens attention before he could enter his home. He turned to wait for to stop, and when she did he crossed her arms over his chest.

"What do you need?" he asked, it wasn't hostile but it wasn't friendly. The tone was the sort one would give someone when they didn't know if they were trouble or not. Which she supposed fit this case perfectly, she was a stranger and he didn't know what she needed or was doing.

But opening her mouth to speak, Shu quickly closed it again, struggling to find the right words. "I… um… w-where are the shops… or merchants at?" she asked, wanting to hide herself upon knowing how stupid she must have seemed as she spoke. He had to think she was an idiot.

Thankfully, whether he did or not, he didn't show it and instead gestured to a building a little farther down the row of houses, "Well, if you're looking to buy armor, Alvor runs the forge right over there. Now, if you're to buy or sell things, the Riverwood Trader is your best bet," he explained and then pointed to another shop which she assumed was the trader he had just spoke of.

"O-oh, thank you, sir," Shu said quickly, bowing her head once or twice in gratitude. The Riverwood Trader was where she would have to go it seemed, not that there was anything wrong with that.

But before she could leave, Sven quickly stopped her. "Hey, if you're going over to the Trader, would you mind doing me a favor?" he asked, and pulled out a letter from a pocket in his trousers and held it out to her, "Could you give Camilla this letter? And tell her it's from Faendal?"

Now that was rather curious, and as she took the letter she couldn't help but give him a puzzled look, "I… I thought your name w-was… um…Sven?" she asked, and she felt like her face was heating up in embarrassment. Had she gotten the name wrong and not even known it? There was nothing ruder than to give the person you're talking to the wrong name.

But Sven just laughed it off, shaking his head as though her own embarrassment was nothing more than entertainment, "No, you're right, my name is Sven. But there's this elf named Faendal who's been spending too much time with Camilla. Once she reads this letter I'll be surprised if she ever invites him over again," he said with a bark of laughter, chest puffing out in confidence.

With that, he left to return to his home leaving Shu where she stood. Staring down at the letter, she frowned, not liking what he was implying. It was clear that this was nothing more than a bout of rivalry for this woman's affections. But to stoop so low as to put the other in a bad light by doing something like this? She contemplated over finding Faendal and letting him know about this but her own worry struck her hard before she could even begin a search.

Would he and Sven get in a fight over it? It was likely, and it was a rational thing to do, right? But things could get rather ugly if she told Faendal and they fought. She had seen several fights over the same thing that ended in blood. Then again she could be wrong, she didn't know Faendal and she didn't know how he would react. While it might seem natural for him to come to arms against Sven for this, he might just as likely shrug it off and not care, carrying on with his own business. She had no way to predict how he would react.

That brought up another issue over showing it to the elf; she didn't even know who he was. If he was the only elf in this town or if there were more, how was she to know? She might accidentally give it to the wrong person, she might mess up and make matters worse in some way. That was something she hated doing the most, making something even worse. That left only one option she could do and hope had the best outcome.

Slipping the letter into her rob, Shuraja began her short walk to the Riverwood Trader. It was best to give it to Camilla herself instead of giving it to Faendal or just not giving it to anyone. Let her decide instead of having the mage make the decision. After all, wouldn't Camilla want to know first? Shu would if she were in her place, well maybe not. But she felt like Camilla should be the one to get the letter and know Sven wrote it.

Thankfully the trader was only a couple houses down, and though she had reason to come in, a few in fact, she still hesitated. Her mind quickly gathered every bit of trader's knowledge she knew, trying to piece together what she might know about whatever system Skyrim had that could give her a hand. It was just a simple trade for gold, right? Though she had seen countless traders who didn't deal with gold, but- no, Skyrim dealt with gold not item for item.

But as she opened the door, she was quickly frozen in place at the doorway, finding herself in the middle of a new bout of trouble. The man behind the counter was in some furious argument with who she could only presume was Camilla. Both seemed rather into it, neither noticing the girl at the door and Shu was in a mental frenzy of distress trying to decide whether to stay or go. But as the door behind her shut, both Lucan and Camilla turned to look at her then at each other.

Letting the argument come to a pause, Camilla quickly sat down with an angry huff while her brother gestured for Shuraja to come to the counter, his own anger switching to a happy expression even if it was forced.

"Come on in! Come in!" Lucan said as Shuraja hesitantly made her way to the counter, "The Riverwood trader has anything and everything you might need!" he boasted proudly. "What do you need?"

"Um… well first I need to sell these…things," Yes, _things_ was the best way she could describe what she removed from the knapsack as she got her first good look at what Colbran had snagged during their trek. Several plates, a few sheathed daggers, and so many more things. Some she would have assumed worthless at first glance, but trusted Colbran enough to assume it had _some_ worth. It was hard enough for Shuraja to come up with a guess of what the total value might be. She would have to go off of what Lucan gave and try to get a better price.

Lucan took each piece, examining them all with the eye of a seasoned merchant. She could see his mind at work calculating the value and price for each item. After a few minutes, he came to a price; two hundred gold pieces.

"I… I'll take it," Shu responded, blinking in surprise. That was actually more than she had expected, and could only assume that they had more worth to them than what she had initially suspected. Or perhaps Lucan was just a generous merchant. Either way, she felt a wave of pride in herself as she was handed the gold in getting that much without any arguing and haggling.

Between the money she had just gotten and the money Colbran had stripped from the dead soldiers, she was able to buy a few loafs of bread to share with him and a few potions for their travels.

Now with her business there done, she began putting the remaining coins into her small coin purse. There was one last thing she wanted to ask, but in the back of her head she already knew she would regret what she was about to say, "You…. You guys said something was stolen?" she asked, glancing between the two.

There was a flash of fear and embarrassment on Lucan's face, likely not having thought she had heard what they had said, "Ah, yeah, we might have had a minor… um… break in… but the Riverwood Trader is still open!" he assured her, gesturing behind him as though to prove that he still had a decent sized stock. "They only took one thing, a golden ornament in the shape of a dragon claw. I just use it as decoration and sometimes a paper weight, I can't see why they would take it when there was more valuable things in here to take."

"Only the dragon claw?" she asked, her curiosity growing and far from satisfied, not to mention a wave of anger towards the ones who robbed the shop. She had a strong hate for those who stole from merchants, "Do you know where these thieves are hiding? It sounded like you do, so why not go there and get it back?" Did Skyrim merchants not hunt down those who robbed them like the ones from back home?

Before Lucan could answer, Camilla spoke up, "They're hiding out in Bleak Falls Barrow," she explained and sent a glare to her brother, "I would go, but _someone_ won't let me," she stated, biting back her anger at Lucan.

He returned her glare with a glare of his own, "Camilla! We've already been over this, I've told you again and again that I don't-!"

Before he could continue scolding her, Shu cut in, "I could… I could get it back for you, if you want?" she offered, and in the back of her mind was yelling at herself for offering. She hadn't thought it through, and had thoughtlessly thrown herself as sacrifice to get something that Lucan apparently didn't deem terribly valuable. She blamed her brothers reckless behavior when it came to merchant thieves had rubbed off on her before she left for Skyrim.

The siblings stared at her, both wide eyed and unsure if they had heard her right. No one must have volunteered to retrieve it for them before, and Shu stepped back nervously, "Um… if you d-don't want me to that's f-fine too?" had she somehow insulted them by offering to get back what was theirs?

But Lucan waved his arms frantically when she said that, "No, no! If you could bring it back that would be great! Amazing!" he exclaimed and then quickly turned to his sister, "See! Now _you_ don't have to go!" he stated as though that was final.

It wasn't over for Camilla yet and she snapped back a quick reply, "Well, _I_ think she needs a guide to get there!"

"What? No! Absolutely not!" Lucan argued, but his sister continued to glare down at him with an expression that told that she would go whether he said she could or not. It was enough to make him reluctantly relent, "Fine! _But_ only to the edge of town, you hear?"

Sticking her tongue out at Lucan, Camilla turned back to Shuraja with a smile. Happy for her own victory, and Shu began wondering if it would be best to leave now. She had her business here done, and there was no reason they had to go to the Barrows right away, was there? She could still rest and do it tomorrow after letting her sore muscles relax for a night. Right?

"Are you ready to go?" Camilla asked as she and Shu stepped out of the shop. Oh, she wanted to go right away? Great….

Shifting her weight from foot to foot, Shuraja glanced everywhere but at the woman before her, "A-actually… do you m-mind if we go tomorrow? I… I've been traveling all d-day and… well…" her mind was running around quick trying to come up with a reasonable reason to delay, "W-well wouldn't it be best to g-go when your rested and n-not exhausted? Besides I came with another and, well, I should find him and see if he… you know… wants to come too?"

It sounded weak to her, but Camilla only nodded in understanding.

"Well, you can stop by tomorrow and I'll show you and your friend how to get there," she said, and Shu let out a sigh of relief, "I just want to say thank you, it means a lot to my brother and I that you're going to get it. But, well, I'll see you tomorrow."

She made her way to go back into the shop, but remembering the letter she had, Shu reached out to stop her, "A-actually, I almost forgot but, um, well, Sven wanted me to give this to you? He said to say it was from a… a um, 'Faendal'?" she wondered if she had the elfs name right, and saw the confusion on Camillas face as she held up the letter.

"What do you mean?" she asked, and practically ripped the letter from Shu's hand with a 'let me see!'. The mage flinched when she saw the hurt and anger on Camillas face, wondering for a moment if this was the wisest move, "Sven… he wanted me to believe Faendal wrote this? That bastard!" she quickly crumpled it up and threw it angrily onto the ground.

After a minute or two she composed herself and gave Shuraja an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry that Sven made you get involved," she said, though Shu didn't quite understand why she was apologizing. It was a favor for a favor after all, "But you should speak to Faendal if you get the chance. He would be happy to know someone stood up for him."

Shu nodded slowly, adding that to a mental list of things to do, and mumbled a 'see you tomorrow as Camilla made her way back to the shop. Likely to rage to her brother over what Sven had done. Just what had the letter said that made her so angry, it must have been rather offensive.

She spotted Sven heading to the Trader as well, likely to talk to her so Shuraja began to make her way out of there quickly. She didn't want to get in the middle of the argument that was going to take place, knowing full well that she held responsibility for it, at least some of it. So instead she hurried to the mill.

That was where Colbran went, right? Ralof said his sister worked at the mill.

But as she drew closer to it, it became more apparent that there wasn't anyone around. A frown found its way to her face, where did everyone go? Did Colbran leave her here while he left for somewhere else? With paranoia growing stronger, questions began streaming through her mind at a rapid pace and a sense of panic bubbled from deep within her.

"C… Colbran?" Shu called out tentatively, glancing around nervously, "Colbran?" She asked again, louder this time and began walking around, hoping to find him just on the other side of the home.

By the Gods, where could he be?

Taking a deep breath to try and calm herself, Shuraja took a seat on a tree stump. No, this was nothing to panic over. So what if she couldn't find Colbran, she can function on her own. So she would have to retrieve the claw on her own, she could do that and if not she would tell them she couldn't. But Shu hated going back on promises so that wasn't really an option for her it seemed.

But, she wasn't exactly comfortable going in by herself. The place sounded rather dangerous and was probably swarming with bandits not just one on his own. She didn't even know who took the claw and how deadly he was. She was a terrible fighter, she would admit that. Besides, even if it had only been a couple of hours, she had felt like she could trust Colbran.

They had made a decent team, more or less, when they were fighting to escape Helgen, and it was hard not to trust someone who had your back for such a dangerous act.

Maybe she shouldn't have.

Just where had he gone?

Lowering her head, her body sagged in defeat. Her mind was no longer wondering where Colbran could have gone, but instead wondering how she would retrieve the claw on her own. Could she even do that on her own?

"I could… I could try and learn that new spell on my way up there… and then I… I can't use a sneak attack I'm not stealthy," she mumbled as she realized what fragment of a plan she had wouldn't work out. Crossing out the idea of using a sneak attack with magic she began trying to think of other plans. The only other weapon beside her magic was a dagger and a sword she barely knew how to use, and she had high doubts she would last long against a group of bandits wielding either.

No matter what scenario she thought of and ran through her mind, she couldn't seem to find one that worked and one that would ensure she survived this quest on her own. "Colbrans archery could work but… I would need Colbran then…" she mumbled.

"What would you need me for?" Colbran asked from behind her, leaning down and wrapping an arm around her shoulders and letting it hang there limply. This action made Shuraja jump up in fright, standing quickly and knocking the thief down.

"Colbran!" she cried out in relief and anger.

Colbran only laughed even though he was sitting on the ground, slowly pushing himself up to stand and brushing dirt off his legs, "That's my name," he said and placed a hand on his hip, "So what were you doing sitting there and mumbling for? Something happen?"

"Where were you?" Shuraja asked instead, ignoring his question entirely.

He tilted his head to the side in confusion, an innocent and curious look taking place on his face, "I was inside Gerdur's house talking to them," he said, gesturing to the home they stood beside, "Why?"

"Shuraja glared at him for a total of five seconds before giving up and letting out a sigh of defeat. It was best to answer his own question instead of bombard him with her own, "I couldn't find you and thought you left," she explained, and then realized that even though she had found him, it didn't mean he would come with her on this quest. She was just assuming he would come along, "I um… I…"

"You what?" he asked, encouraging her to continue.

Looking down, she said it as quickly as she possibly could, "Imayhaveagreedtofindsomeclawforsomepeopleandmighthavesuggestedyou'dcometoo!" after that, she took a deep breath and then another breath to make up for the oxygen deprivation that speaking so quickly had caused.

Looking up, she was met with a blank look from her friend, "Okay… now repeat that, but slower. Way slower," Colbran instructed her, and, with cheeks flushing red, she did as she was told with what was hopefully a better explanation as well.

"I agreed to find a golden claw that was stolen from the Riverwood Trader, up on Bleak Falls Barrow, and I thought you might come with me, and I'm sorry if you didn't want to come and I said you would when you wouldn't," she said, looking down, at the ground. When she looked back up, he was rubbing his chin in thought and her own fear began to rise.

"So…" Colbran began slowly, keeping her under a critical gaze, "That sounds like it could be fun, so why not?"

"You… you actually want to go along with me?"

That just earned her a grin from the thief, "Why not? I mean we _are_ a team after all, aren't we? Why wouldn't I come, besides it's an adventure and there is always treasure to be found on adventures. Can't turn up a chance to get some loot, now can I?" Of course, his greed was also a major reason for him to come along with the 'team' bit.

But, that still brought a small smile to her face, and Colbran couldn't help but think of how cute that small smile was on her. Not an 'I'm interested in her' kind of way, but rather a 'timid kitten' kind of cute. He always did like kittens, and the resemblance was a reason he had taken such a liking to this girl. She was just an adorable innocent kitten.

Well, maybe not so innocent after what they've gone through, and he didn't know what her past was so he couldn't say she was pure and innocent. But she still had the vibes of a nervous kitten new to the world.

But that was why he liked to tease her, it was amusing to him seeing her so anxious. Maybe it was cruel of him to do so, but Colbran never said he wasn't a cruel person now and then. Besides, her reactions were amusing, and when Colbran found something that amused him or pleased him, he had a tendency not to let it go. He was a selfish man after all and added to his earlier decision to watch over her, he knew there was little chance he was going to just go and split up this wonderful team he made with her.

The thief knew however that this would become dull sooner or later, and promise or not, when she was no longer amusing to him he was going to leave. It was his nature to leave when things cease to interest him. He wasn't going to outright abandon her to the wolves though, that would be excessively cruel even by his standards. But he knew deep down that they weren't going to stick together forever.

His train of thought was broken when he noticed that Shuraja was already farther ahead, and rushed to catch up with her, "We should find an inn," she explained when he fell in step beside her, "So we can, you know, rest up before heading out tomorrow?" Now Shu was giving him a worried look as though her suggestion was going directly against whatever he had been planning.

But Colbran just shrugged, taking on hand onto her shoulder and the other pointing farther ahead of them, "Smart idea, there's the inn right over there. We got enough gold septims for a night?"

"We should…"

"Great! Then lead the way!" Colbran said, giving her a light push forward. Shu stumbled a few steps but then began nervously walking ahead.

The Sleeping Giant Inn wasn't anything fancy. A simple, quaint little place. A few people were inside, and when Shu spotted Sven, she quickly hid behind Colbran to not be noticed. Her ally gave her a confused look but thankfully didn't press for a reason behind her behavior, instead going to the merchant at the counter.

"Hello!" Colbran said, his sudden enthusiasm startling the younger of them, and Orgnar gave him a look that showed he didn't get the tone either. But Colbran just ignored the looks and wrapped an arm around Shuraja, pulling her close, "We would like to rent a room please, preferably one with two beds? I don't think my lovely partner here would be to comfortable sharing a bed with me."

For her part, Shu just blushed a bright red at the idea of it.

"One night? That'll be ten septims each," Orgnar explained as he wiped away at the counter.

Colbran just continued to smile and held up a coin pouch- wait that was Shu's coin pouch how and when did he get that?- and took out about twenty coins for them. "I hope that this will suffice?" he asked, pushing them to the other.

Orgnar took the coins, examining them for a second to make sure they were real before tossing a key at him, "If you need food or drink come on up here, otherwise your room is on the far left."

"Thank you very much, kind sir," Colbran said, taking the key and leading Shu down to the room. There were a few eyes that watched and followed them but for the most part they were ignored as they entered the rented room.

Closing the door behind him, Colbran took in the décor of the room. A chest, a dresser, two beds on both walls. Not too bad he mused. It was clean, beds were made with fur that looked clean, he could only hope the furs were changed often enough. But all in all, it wasn't too shabby of a room.

"Well, Shu, what do you think?" He asked but got no response. Turning around, he found her already curled up on one of the beds, fast asleep. Ah, poor girl must have been exhausted. Watching her for a minute or two, Colbran gave a soft smile and pulled up one of the furs that was at the foot of the bed, bringing it over her small body to keep her warm.

"Good night, Shu," he said, brushing some hair from her face and making his way out of the room.

He might as well get a drink before he heads to bed himself. A good bottle of mead always did well to help him sleep on stressful days. And this day had certainly counted as stressful even if he covered it with jokes and smiles.

* * *

Several hours after sunrise, the two would be found in the middle of their quest. It had been little effort to make their way up to the barrows after Camilla showed them the path. The bandits and wolves had certainly posed a problem but between their combined efforts the two had been able to climb the mountain in only a couple of hours.

To no ones surprise, the barrows had been full of bandits upon coming to it. Colbran had taken out the ones at the entrance with his bow before the thieves knew they were under attack and within the first room there were three more that Colbran wasted no time to take out. That was where the two were at presently.

Colbran could only laugh with excitement, bringing his sword down on the last bandit standing in the room. There was a spray of blood as the body crumpled limply to the ground. Panting for breath, Colbran lowered his weapon back to its sheathe, the adrenaline was coursing through his body and leaving him wanting more. More people to fight, more people to kill. Just anything to keep his blood pumping.

Looking around for more, he frowned in disappointment, there was no more bandits left alive in the room. What a shame, but he would get over it.

"You can come out now," he called out to Shuraja. The girl had been hiding behind a pillar the entire fight waiting for Colbran to get over his blood lust. Smart decision on her part, no one would want to be in the way of him when he got that way.

Sure, Shu had done some damage during the fight, she had even set the first bandit on fire. For Colbran, that had been fun to watch in all honesty. But after seeing the other bandits and how violent Colbran had gotten, she had hid and attacked, much like a snake. Remaining unseen and then sending out quick bolts of magic when someone wasn't watching while Colbran remained the center of the fight. He couldn't really blame her for trying to stay out of the main fight, she wasn't much of a fighter.

But thankfully she wasn't a novice mage, and her spell Chain Lightning had been very useful even if it almost got Colbran a few times. It had jumped from one target to the next and the smell of burnt skin was still strong. It was good to know she was skilled with the magic she knew, so Colbran intended to get her some more spell tomes to learn from when he got the chance. Maybe find some more defensive ones, she didn't seem to know much defensive magic.

But, now with the room empty it was time for Colbran to get to work. So while Shu stood by the light of the fire, Colbran began looting the bandits of any valuables he could find. A few gold coins, lock picks was all he found on them. So he chose to hit the chest next, he always preferred to save chests last for his thievery. Though did it even count as thievery when it was being stolen from thieves too?

Best not think too much on that and get to work on the chest. Thankfully picking locks was one of his many talents, and even more luckily was that this lock was a rather easy one to deal with.

He didn't even break a pick when the chest opened.

Inside he found just the kind of things he was looking for and Colbrans face lit up with pure glee. There was a good handful of gold septims in it, along with a necklace and some cracked gems. All in all he estimated that he could get some good price on the gems and necklace. Good findings, very good findings.

Though the claw was unfortunately not in it.

Closing the now empty chest, he handed a magicka potion he found within to Shuraja, "You keep it, use it when you need to," he instructed, earning a soft thank you as she tucked it away in her own bag. Also stolen from a bandit and given to her by Colbran.

Without another word, Colbran led her down the path, deeper and deeper into the Barrows. A look of frustration came over Shuraja's face as she swatted at webs in her way and had to pull them off herself. It was everywhere and some of it hard to see, some even got into Colbrans mouth. He made an exaggerated show of gagging and spitting to get it out, which had caused his friend to crack a small smile, but did not emit the desired laugh.

No laughter, no talking, instead the two continued on walking in silence by choice. They did not want their voices to echo through these halls and alert others of their arrival. But they did stop several times whenever Colbran spotted gold or anything that could contain gold or other things he could sell. The stopping did slow them down but it was worth it Colbran thought.

Shuraja would have preferred not making this any longer then they needed it to be.

The Barrows were, for the simplest way of putting it, not a very welcoming or comforting place to be. It was cold, dark and had a rather ominous air to it, as though any step would equal death. Stone walls were cracked and breaking away, webs and bugs everywhere, the stench of death so powerful it would make any cringe. The only source of light were the fires and candles that had been lit along the way, but that just proved that someone had recently come down here as well.

They could still be down there, likely more bandits, and Shuraja was trying to prepare herself and calm herself for confronting whoever else was still in the Barrows. Hopefully they found the claw soon so they could out of this place.

Being down here just didn't feel right.

The path was a constant slope, uneven with large pieces of stone in the floor broken away. If not careful they could trip and fall, more than once Shu had tripped over some loose stone or a thick vine and had fallen flat on her face, sliding down a little bit because of the slanted angle the ground was at. Though there was the few times the path would go up for a few steps before going back down.

It seemed they had no choice _but_ to go to the bottom of this ruin.

"Watch your step," Colbran warned as he began stepping over a large clump of roots and vines sprawled across the ground along with large and loose bits of stone.

The path was beginning to get narrower, not enough room to stand side by side let alone try and pass each other. It seemed like one wrong step and they could trip and fall over the mess on the floor, maybe even break an ankle if their luck was bad enough. Getting an injury like that was the last thing either would want, it would slow them down big time, and even with healing magic it would still be tender and slow going.

But soon enough the path ceased to be an endless slope and they had reached steps leading down, though it was still as narrow as before. Without warning, Colbran stepped back causing Shuraja to walk right into his back. Thankfully he caught them both before they could stumble and fall.

Instead he knelt down, wordlessly gesturing to the room that the steps lead to. They could see a bandit walking towards the center of the room where a large lever stood prominent. Colbran took out his bow and notched an arrow as he got ready to fire, waiting to see what would happen with narrowed eyes and slowly making his way silently down the steps with Shu right behind him.

The bandit never noticed them as he looked around the room before coming back to the lever. Colbran prepared to fire, but when the lever was pulled it turned out that he didn't need to do anything after all. A hail of arrows came from every direction, piercing the bandit all over once the lever was pulled. Both Shu and Colbran tensed up as they watched the man crumple to the ground in a dead heap, blood covering his skin and armor with countless arrows covering him.

"A trap?" Shuraja asked, standing up, following Colbran as he cautiously stepped into the room. She stared at the bandit as the thief began his rummaging of the body, taking out gold and then collecting the arrows on the ground and then she looked around the room herself.

There was a door on the other side, the only exit out of here and it seemed that the bandit was trying to open the door with the lever, only for it not to work. They had just seen what pulling the lever would do.

Colbran frowned as he looked around the room, "There must be another lever, hidden somewhere," he said, pacing about the room, examining the walls for something that could open the door. As he made his way to the steps to the ledge in the room he turned back to Shuraja who still stood by the body, "Come on, Shu. Let's look for it and hope it's the right one. I really don't feel like death by arrows today."

Leave it to him to have some kind of witty comment.

But the Nord mage nodded anyways, she had to agree that she didn't feel like dying by arrows today either. So she went to scanning the walls on the main floor while Colbran worked on the ledge. A lever, a chain, a button. It could be any of these things and it was probably hidden rather well if the person who set it didn't want others going any further.

Something didn't feel right about this though, at least not to her. As she walked up to the pillars she couldn't help but frown in thought as she stared at them. There were carvings on them, and they seemed movable. With enough force behind it, they could be rotated to change which carving faced the front. It couldn't have been like that just for decorations sake. There had to be a point to that.

Stepping back, she scanned the room again, and sure enough at the ledge she could see two more carvings, immobile from appearance. A snake and a dolphin… but two there should be three. Wait, no, the third one, or rather the first one had fallen to the ground due to the rooms own crumbling status, and sure enough it was another snake. Snake, snake, dolphin that was the pattern, and the same carvings were on the movable stones too, just not in that order.

"A puzzle," Shuraja whispered to herself, realization dawning on here as she looked at the six carvings. There was no second lever, just this puzzle. She could remember her father once saying that ancient Nords often used puzzles in place of keys to lock up such ruins. So, the only way they could get through was to solve this puzzle, push the stones so the right carvings were in order.

Pursing her lips, she began pushing on the first one. Groaning at its weight as its heaviness made it slow to move. By the time she had it in position so the snake carving was facing the room, her arms were sore and she was out of breath. But the young woman had to more she had to move and was determined to do it.

By the time she had gotten to the last one, her arms were killing her from the strain, her hands were scrapped up and raw. But determination still coursed through her and so she pushed. This one was more stubborn than the other two, barely budging despite her best efforts. By this time, Colbran had come down to watch her out of curiosity towards her actions.

Without any prompt or request, the man stepped over beside her and began pushing with her. Muscles bulged and he groaned as they pushed the stubborn stone object. "By the Gods, this is heavy!" he grunted, and Shuraja couldn't help but agree. However, thankfully with combined efforts, the stone had begun moving more smoothly and they had managed to get the dolphin carving facing outwards.

With it in place, Shuraja stepped back to look at it and then the other three, trying to look for any error or flaw in what they did. Snake, snake, dolphin, it matched up with each other, and it looked like it was in order. That just meant it was time to test whether she was right or not, and pray to Alkosh that she was right.

"So, mind telling me what the point of that was?" Colbran asked, hands on his hips as he watched her move to the lever in the center of the room. He frowned in confusion but quickly turned to panic as she took hold of it. "Wait! That's the fake remember? The trap!" he tried to warn in vain.

But she just shook her head, pulling the lever down, "No it's not," she said, unsure if Colbran heard her soft spoken words or not. But when the lever was pulled, Colbran stiffened, and even she flinched in fear that she messed up. But instead of a storm of arrows flying at them, the sound of an iron gate being lifted was what they were given. Both bodies relaxed and then Colbran stared at her in astonishment as the door opened.

"It was a puzzle," Shuraja said, a small, tiny smile on her face, proud of herself for figuring it out.

Colbran just frowned, "A puzzle," he repeated, walking to join her in the middle of the room, staring at hard at her and then at the opened door, "A puzzle….. Shu! You are a genius!" he exclaimed, his serious expression swapped for one of delight, "By the Gods, if you hadn't figured that out, we'd still be looking for a lever that wasn't here! You are brilliant!"

His excited praise caused Shuraja to look down in embarrassment, her face flushing bright red. Quickly turning around so he wouldn't see her blushing cheeks, though not quick enough as he had seen, his grin growing. "We…we should go," she stuttered and mumbled, hurrying her way out through the door.

She had hoped that once that was done with they would be able to get to the claw soon, but they hadn't even gotten that far. As soon as they left the room, Colbrans thief senses had them taking a detour to a chest right outside of the door. Shuraja didn't complain, and even snagged a Soul Gem that sat among the treasure in the corner. A Soul Gem would be useful, and there was a potion too. From the look on Colbrans fave, there was quite a bit of gold and jewels in there as well that he quickly stuffed into his bag.

At least they won't be low on funds with Colbran around.

When everything worth gold had been successfully taken, they continued their journey. Going deeper and deeper into the Barrows. The farther they got, the colder and darker it became as well. Fewer candles were lit, and a chill ran through the passage that hit them in the bones. The amount of webs had also increased drastically when they got past a small group of skeevers. It didn't bode well with Shuraja, and she couldn't help but start jumping at shadows on the wall at this point, her own paranoia going through the roof.

Eventually, Colbran made the two come to a stop much to her appreciation. He had slipped his bow into his hands as a look of concentration went on his face and he glanced over to Shuraja.

"Did you hear that?" He asked her, looking around for the source of the noise. Shu focused hard to hear what he did, and sure enough, she found what he was talking about. There was someone yelling, and though it was faint, she could tell that it was some kind of plead for help.

"Let's go check it out," Colbran said as he began moving in slow and cautious steps. Shuraja hesitated, but followed his lead. The closer they got, the louder the yelling became, and she had been right about it being someone yelling for help. Crouching behind a pillar, Colbran peered into the room through a small gap between stones. It was large, filled with webs and egg saps, and towards one end was a man wrapped up in webs.

Shuraja's eyes widened and she took a frightened step back, "Oh Gods, I'm… I'm not going in there," she decided, taking a few more trembling steps backwards. Her face having gone deathly pale in her fright. She could tell by the webs and sacs exactly what was waiting for them in them, and she had no desire to meet it.

Her companion looked at her in confusion, "Why not?" he asked in a whispere, glancing back into the room, "Looks like it might just be a few spiders, probably…" he trailed off, her reaction rolling around in his head for a moment or two. She had acted like this when they ran into the Frostbite Spiders back at Helgen too, hadn't hse? Soon enough, realization hit him like a hammer to the face and he stared at her in surprise.

Looking back at her, Colbrans eyes were wide, torn between surprise and amusement, "You're scared of spiders, aren't you?" he asked, a grin cracking across his face when she turned red in embarrassment. He knew he had hit the nail on the head with that one, "Come on, there were spiders back in the Helgen escape and you went through that," he reminded her, and she just took another step back.

"Don't remind me!" was her reply, keeping her voice low but still managing to hiss it with enough harsh force behind it.

Before she could make a move to head back the way they had come, Colbran grabbed her and forced her to keep still as a hand went over her mouth to quiet her. Shu struggled, anger coursing through her body at his actions and refusal to let her go. She could use her magic to get out, burn him, electrocute him, maybe even use ice on him.

But, she thought, that would mean she would _hurt_ him.

Shuraja wanted to get out, oh did she want to get out of there before they faced any more of Skyrims large spiders. But she didn't want to hurt Colbran, even if he was keeping her from leaving. He was her only friend and ally here, they were friends, right? If she used her magic on him to get out, he wouldn't take kindly to it and she would lose the only ally she had in this cold land. Besides, she didn't want to hurt a friend.

Not again.

While she was having her own inner conflict over this, Colbran was trying to figure out how he could get her past the spiders without alerting them. By the looks of it, they were probably high above and some likely watching and waiting for someone to come by. He would likely have to kill them quickly, and with any luck, Shuraja might be frightened enough that her legs go numb, and he could drag her through without any issues.

There were several options to go about here, but he didn't know which one would be best. Colbran would need to keep Shuraja safe, that was a given, and he would need to keep her from leaving, another obvious point. There was also the man trapped in the webs they would have to save. Of course they _could_ just call it quits and leave the barrows but.

Well just giving up wasn't Colbrans style.

"Come on! You have to get me out!" The man trapped in the webs cried out, having spotted them and was struggling against his binds. Colbran let out a hiss of annoyance at the foolishness displayed. They were trying to be quiet for a reason, and now the cries of distress had awoken the beast above. "Oh Gods, here it comes again!" the trapped bandit wailed.

They had expected numerous spiders, but what they got instead had both Colbran and Shuraja freeze, plans in minds having fizzled out. Both stared in horror as the frostbite spider lowered itself to the ground, turning to face them. Venom dripped from its fangs, numerous eyes zeroed in on it. Oh boy, was it _big_.

"Okay…. Now I can see why you're scared of them," Colbran whispered to her, eyes wide. That thing was bigger than anything he had ever seen before, far too big to fit through the entrance thankfully, but it would still be difficult to fight. Without another thought he shoved Shuraja to the side, hidden behind a wall that could protect her from it, both just narrowly avoiding the poison that had been shot at them. It sizzled against the ground where they had just stood, and both stared at it.

Snapping back to attention, Colbran quickly unsheathed his sword, darting out from the hiding spot quickly. He would have to move quickly to avoid the venom and stay out of range of its fangs if he wanted to stay unharmed.

As Colbran went on the offensive, Shuraja sank to the ground. Knees pulled up close to her chest and hands over her ears. She hated spiders, she _hated_ spiders, by the gods, why did it have to be a spider they faced off, and one so big? Her heart raced in her chest, threatening to burst out at any moment, her body trembled in terror and her skin ran damp with cold sweat.

She could hear Colbran hacking away at the spider, groaning and crying out whenever he got hit. He shouldn't have to do this on his own, she knew that, she knew that she had to do _something_ , but could she? Pulling herself to stand was difficult enough. Her legs were shaking and threatening to give way under her, and her entire body shook like mad. Even her breathing was becoming short as she peaked her head out to look at the fight.

Colbran was lying on the ground, groaning in pain, his sword across the room. No…no… he wasn't supposed to lose he- oh Gods no…

At this point the spider had spotted her and was making its way in her direction. She could see the venom dripping to the ground from its fangs, could see its many ugly eyes staring down at her with malice. She needed to cast a spell, do something to stop it before it killed her. But when she tried to think of a spell, her mind went blank. It was like Helgen; she couldn't move. Her blood had frozen over, her limbs locked in place and preventing her to move and survive.

It was funny that fear could hinder you from escaping the thing you feared. It paralyzed you and made you easy prey.

The spider was moving fast now, getting closer to her. She could see Colbran weakly lift his head and eyes widen. Hand reached for his sword not realizing that it wasn't there. "Shu! Move!" he shouted to no avail. The venom coursing through his body wasn't enough to kill him but it would keep him down for a while still. He couldn't do anything to help her. He could only continue to yell at her, trying to get her to move, to do _something_.

Thankfully yelling seemed to do the trick as Shuraja was snapped out of her terror induced daze. Out of instinct she reached deep into her magicka, and felt her hands heat up. Without even thinking, she flung a fireball right into the spiders face. The hiss and screech of pain as it stumbled back, half blinded as the flames burned at its eye was… enjoyable.

"That's it!" Colbran yelled as Shu continued to strike it with spell after spell. Fire, ice, lightning, bolt after bolt. Despite her terror she continued to lash out and the spider, already weakened from Colbrans attacks, had fallen dead.

Exhausted, Shuraja fell to her knees in front of it, eyes wide in surprise, and when she saw a leg twitch she quickly scrambled over to Colbran in fright. Thankfully it wasn't a sign of life.

"You did it," Colbran said, pride evident as Shuraja got to work using healing magic to nullify the poison that had paralyzed him. "I knew you could do it! That spider had nothing on you," he continued to praise. This time his words didn't make her blush, the adrenaline and terror left her still numb.

"I… yeah… t-thanks," she weakly replied.

Her magic was drained, her body sore, it would take a little bit until she could preform spells again, hopefully she wouldn't need to for a while longer.

"Thank the Gods you're here!" the man yelled, squirming some more. In all honesty, Shu had forgotten he was even there, "You have to get me out of here! Before anything else comes!"

Colbran glanced at Shuraja and then at the man, distrust evident for both of them. They knew that he was probably part of the bandit group they had encountered right away upon entering the Barrows, it would make sense for why he was here, that meant he knew where the Claw was.

Sheathing his sword only to grab his bow and arrow instead, Colbran nodded to Shuraja as he aimed it at the man while Shu got to work cutting away the webs.

"We'll get you out of there, but if you run I'll shoot," Colbran warned as his companion continued to work, "Take your time, Shu," he added to her, grinning in enjoyment at the terrified expression the other held at his words. This was going to be fun he felt. At least for himself. "What's your name, bandit?" He asked.

"Arvel… they call me Arvel the Swift," the bandit, now known to be named Arvel, said quickly. Smart enough not to try and anger the one with a weapon.

Shuraja nodded as she cut through another bit of webbing, making a face at the feeling of the strands on her hand, Why couldn't Colbran have done this instead of her? "What do you…" she hesitated for a moment, not sure if it was worth asking him or not, "What do you know about the Golden Claw?"

"The Claw? Yes! The Golden Claw! I know all about it!" Arvel said rather quickly, squirming some more much to Shu's annoyance, "The Claw, the markings and the Hall of Stories! I know how they all fit together!" He told them, hoping it was helping his situation rather than hurting it.

Colbran raised an eyebrow and then smirked, "I had a feeling that it was you who stole it," he finally said to the bandit, "Now I know for sure, you're the thief who robbed the Riverwood Trader. A pretty bad thief since you got into this mess, don't you know anything about caution? It's one of the most important thing for thieves to know."

The Dunmer, having sensed he was treading on rather thin ice, began squirming even more in his bindings, again displeasing Shu, "Let me out of here and I'll… I'll show you!" he offered in his panic, "You won't believe what kind of power the Nords hid down there! I can guide you to it!"

Exchanging glances, neither Colbran nor Shuraja knew whether or not they should trust him. But Colbran's treasure hunting instincts were taking hold and a greedy glint was in his eyes. "All right," he said, grinning widely, "I'm listening so you better start talking.

The relief that Arvel felt at hearing that was easy for them both to see, and when Shuraja had finished cutting through the webbing, he fell to the ground, pushing him back to his feet and looked at them. He likely thought of them as friends for saving him, or idiots for trusting him, and Colbran didn't care which.

He knew Arvels kind, he knew what kind of person Arvel the Swift was. He knew because he was the same kind of person himself, so when the Dunmer began speaking to thank the two for letting him go, Colbran drew back the bowstring until it was taut. His actions surprising both Arvel and Shuraja.

"Start talking, Elf," Colbran ordered and glanced over at Shu, "Take his bag and look for the Claw, and anything that might help," he ordered.

She hesitated, but not wanting to disobey him, quickly took Arvels knapsack and began digging in it while the Dunmer began to quickly talk.

"Down in the Hall of Stories, there's a door that's locked," he said, his words coming out rushed and his hands shaking. He had intended to run, but he wouldn't be able to dodge Colbrans arrow. "There's no way to pick the lock, but the Golden Claw is the key to opening it!"

The mix blooded thief frowned, "How is the Claw a key?" He questioned, watching from the corner of his eye as Shuraja pulled the golden object out of the bag. It didn't look like a key.

Thankfully Arvel knew to answer, "On the door there are three rings, each with carvings on them. The combination is on the claw," he explained.

"Shu?"

Shuraja turned the Claw over in her hands and peered at the palm of it, "He's telling the t-truth. There are markings on here, they might be the code," she said, mentally berating herself for stuttering and held the claw up for Colbran to see.

He glanced at it and nodded in approval, then looked back at Arvel. For a short while he didn't say a word, sizing up the dark elf. Deciding on what to do for him. He stood there in silence, bow still drawn with the iron arrow pointed at the thief. There was anxiety in the air for what he might choose but then he finally spoke.

"Go."

The bow was lowered and Arvel stared at him with surprise in his eyes, "Go?" he repeated uncertainly.

"Yes, go," Colbran said, jerking with his head in the direction that he and Shu had come from, "Het out of here and go home. Thank the Divines that you'll live to see another day and think about your life choices. Just get out of here before I change my mind," he said.

He didn't need to say it again. Arvel had only stared at him warily for a moment or two before slowly walking away from Shuraja and past Colbran. Worried that he would be shot in the back, but when he rounded the corner, he broke into a run. Doing as told and just getting out of there as fast as he could.

"Was it… I don't w-want to sound rude but… was it wise to have him go?" Shuraja asked when Arvel was a good ways away.

Colbran just shrugged, putting the bow and arrow away as he picked up the bag on the ground, rummaging through it and stuffing the journal and the gold from it into his own bag, "Well, I doubt he'd want to mess with us. Besides, he left his bag and we have the Golden Claw. So no harm done now, right?"

"Are we going back to Riverwood now?"

In answer, the man just wrapped an arm around Shuraja's shoulder and began to lead her in the opposite direction they had come from, deeper into the barrows, "Our dear friend Arvel said that there's treasure down here. I see no harm in finding out what the fuss is about. Besides if there's treasure, it's ours for the taking. What's the worst that could happen?"

"W-we could die?" Shu answered worriedly, wringing her hands together anxiously.

Colbran only laughed, "You're with me, Shu. How could you possibly get killed?"

That was why she was certain she was going to get killed though; she was with Colbran. The man didn't care about danger so long as there was something valuable to gain at the end.


End file.
